KOTA KINABALU: Opposition Parti Warisan has identified its candidates for both the general election and in the event the Sabah assembly is dissolved.
Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said they were prepared and have identified their candidates for all the Parliament seats that they intend to contest.
"We have also identified our candidates for the state if the Sabah assembly is dissolved simultaneously (with the general election)," he told reporters after a gathering in Lahad Datu on Saturday (Sept 24).
A Sabah election is only due in 2025 as the last election was held in September 2020 with the current government led by the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Sabah Barisan Nasional.
Shafie said they had been working on the ground and preparing for the polls over the past few months and were ready for it whenever the prime minister decided to call for it.
He said Warisan’s priority was to field credible candidates acceptable by the people.
He said the party believed that people would be voting for the candidates and not so much for the parties.
Dismissing talks of Warisan working with other parties, he said: "We believe in working with the people instead of working with parties.
"I believe that in the coming election, at least 60% of the people will vote for the candidate and not just the party.
"Recent elections in Johor and the earlier Sabah snap election (2020) saw independents winning.
"It shows that people are not looking at the party only but at the candidates.
"I believe the voting trend would be for candidates and not necessarily the parties," he said.
"We see cooperation with the people being more important than cooperation with other parties, because the people decide who will be the government," he said.
Shafie also said that Warisan’s focus was to make sure that the party is strengthened, especially after some of its members, including elected representatives had defected.
"Even if we want to consider working with other parties, we can only do that when we are in a stronger position, not when we are weak," he said.
Shafie is currently on a political tour of the state's east coast to meet the people.
He was in Semporna on Friday (Sept 23) and is heading to Tawau and Kalabakan on Sunday (Sept 25) as part of his party's pre-election preparations.
